Importance of Morality and Religion in Government

John AdamsSigner of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United
States

[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish
the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of
a free constitution is pure virtue.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams,
Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston:
Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.)

[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending
with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution
was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the
government of any other.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams,
Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston:
Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property
is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and
public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not
covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must
be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or
made free.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams,
Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston:
Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. VI, p. 9.)

John Quincy Adams

Sixth President of the United States

The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well
as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes . . . of universal
application-laws essential to the existence of men in society, and most of which
have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws.

(Source: John Quincy Adams, Letters of John
Quincy Adams, to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James
M. Alden, 1850), p. 61.)

There are three points of doctrine the belief of which
forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the
second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state
of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either
of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will
have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. The laws of man may bind
him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous,
or happy.

(Source: John Quincy Adams, Letters of John
Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James M.
Alden, 1850), pp. 22-23.)

Samuel Adams

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will
secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

(Source: William V. Wells, The Life and Public
Service of Samuel Adams (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1865), Vol. I, p.
22, quoting from a political essay by Samuel Adams published in The Public Advertiser,
1749.)

Fisher Ames

Framer of the First Amendment

Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits
. . . it is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart,
and on the influence all these produce on public opinion before that opinion
governs rulers.

(Source: Fisher Ames, An Oration on the Sublime
Virtues of General George Washington (Boston: Young & Minns, 1800), p. 23.)

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of
time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality
is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery,
and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid
foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.

(Source: Bernard C. Steiner, The Life and
Correspondence of James McHenry (Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers, 1907),
p. 475. In a letter from Charles Carroll to James McHenry of November 4, 1800.)

Oliver Ellsworth

Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court

[T]he primary objects of government are the peace, order, and prosperity of society. . . . To the promotion of these objects, particularly in a republican government, good morals are essential. Institutions for the promotion of good morals are therefore objects of legislative provision and support: and
among these . . . religious institutions are eminently useful and important. . . . [T]he legislature, charged with the great interests of the community, may, and ought to countenance, aid and protect religious institutions—institutions wisely calculated to direct men to the performance of all the duties arising from their connection with each other, and to prevent or repress those evils which flow from unrestrained passion.

(Source: Connecticut Courant, June 7,
1802, p. 3, Oliver Ellsworth, to the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut)

Benjamin Franklin

Signer of the Constitution and
Declaration of Independence

[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations
become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live,
the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs
of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is
it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir,
in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in
vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without
His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than
the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our
projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye
word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this
unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and
leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that
henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on
our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to
business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate
in that service.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence
and Third President of the United States

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the
earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose
that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you
to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever
you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself
how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage
all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises,
being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body
does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest
virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every
moment of life, and in the moment of death.

[P]ublic utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution
of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose,
the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image
of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone
secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions
of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible,
we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles
are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses,
and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree
of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys.
. . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present
republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must
fall with them.

(Source: Jedidiah Morse, A Sermon, Exhibiting
the Present Dangers and Consequent Duties of the Citizens of the United States
of America (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1799), p. 9.)

William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania

[I]t is impossible that any people of government should
ever prosper, where men render not unto God, that which is God’s, as well as
to Caesar, that which is Caesar’s.

(Source: Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania,
1682. Written by William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania.)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

No free government now exists in the world, unless where
Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country.

The only foundation for a useful education in a republic
is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without
virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican
governments.

We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only
means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that
is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by
the means of the Bible. For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that
equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal
virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.

By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their
moorings upon all moral subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human
heart that ever has been published. . . . All systems of religion, morals, and
government not founded upon it [the Bible] must perish, and how consoling the
thought, it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself.
“The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” [Matthew 1:18]

Remember that national crimes require national punishments,
and without declaring what punishment awaits this evil, you may venture to assure
them that it cannot pass with impunity, unless God shall cease to be just or
merciful.

(Source: Benjamin Rush, An Address to the
Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping (Boston:
John Boyles, 1773), p. 30.)

Joseph Story

Supreme Court Justice

Indeed, the right of a society or government to [participate] in matters of religion will
hardly be contested by any persons who believe that piety, religion, and morality are intimately
connected with the well being of the state and indispensable to the administrations of civil justice. The promulgation of the great doctrines of religion—the being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues—these never can be a matter of indifference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how any civilized society can
well exist without them.

(Source: Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition
of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847),
p. 260, §442.)

George Washington

“Father of Our Country”

While just government protects all in their religious rights,
true religion affords to government its surest support.

(Source: George Washington, The Writings
of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1932), Vol. XXX, p. 432 n., from his address to
the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 9, 1789.)

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would
that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great
pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens.
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish
them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public
felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation,
for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the
instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?

And let us with caution indulge
the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may
be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure,
reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail
in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or
morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends
with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a
sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the
foundation of the fabric?

(Source: George Washington, Address of George
Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination
(Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address
to the United States in 1796.)

[T]he [federal] government . . . can never be in danger
of degenerating into a monarchy, and oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other
despotic or oppressive form so long as there shall remain any virtue in the
body of the people.

(Source: George Washington, The Writings
of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: U. S. Government
Printing Office, 1939), Vol. XXIX, p. 410. In a letter to Marquis De Lafayette,
February 7, 1788.)

* For the full text of Geo. Washington’s Farewell Address, click
here.

Daniel Webster

Early American Jurist and Senator

[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction
and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions
of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us
together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall
bury all our glory in profound obscurity.

The most perfect maxims and examples for regulating your
social conduct and domestic economy, as well as the best rules of morality and
religion, are to be found in the Bible. . . . The moral principles and precepts
found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions
and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their
foundation. . . . All the evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition,
injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting
the precepts contained in the Bible. . . . For instruction then in social, religious
and civil duties resort to the scriptures for the best precepts.

Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are
twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run
into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense,
forms an essential part of both.

(Source: James Wilson, The Works of the Honourable
James Wilson (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, p. 106.)

Robert Winthrop

Former Speaker of the US House
of Representatives

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by
a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or
by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.

(Source: Robert Winthrop, Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions
(Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1852), p. 172 from his “Either by the Bible or
the Bayonet.”)

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